Each year the businesses in downtown Villa Rica host “safe treat” for the children (and adults) in our community.  Since we are officially part of downtown Villa Rica, Woodall Orthodontics was glad to be a part of this year’s trick or treating.  Since the front yard is a sea of muddy red clay we partnered with J. Collins, passing out candy on his front porch.  There were a TON of families that participated this year despite the constant drizzle and chilly temps.

Mickey Mouse and Spiderman (a.k.a. my nephews) stopped by for some photos and candy

Sarah & I, along with Jay, tag teamed the hoards of trick or treaters, passing out many pounds of candy

Our neighbor, Mac Pilgrim/Buzz Lightyear took time from his busy schedule to say “hey”….thanks for the Halloween spirit and laughs, Mac!

We had a great time and enjoyed seeing our neighbors here in Villa Rica!

Ok, so I thought I would do something a little different for today’s blog post.  I get a lot of questions about when children should stop sucking their thumbs or pacifiers.

“What do I do if my child sucks their thumb?”

First don’t get too worked up if they are still young!  Thumb-sucking in infant and toddler children is extremely common and really should not be a cause for concern.  Some doctors think that it is better to give the child a pacifier so that later a pacifier can be taken away more easily than a thumb :).  As far as when to worry about thumb sucking or pacifiers, most children will stop the behavior on their own before it creates any orthodontic problems.  Typically, most orthodontists, myself included, think it is best if children have given up the pacifier or thumb habit by the age of 4.  Prolonged thumb sucking or pacifier use after the permanent teeth have started to erupt (age 5-6) can cause orthodontic and dental development problems.

An anterior open bite occurs when the front teeth do not overlap or touch when the child closes their back teeth together so you can look through the space and see the tongue, this  may develop as result of the habit if it persists too long.

Also the sucking may cause a narrowing of the upper jaw and the upper back molar teeth to sit inside the lower back molar teeth.  This is called a posterior cross bite and occures as a result of the pressure from the checks as the child sucks while the permanent teeth are coming in.

A third situation that can arise is protuding front teeth.  The teeth end up coming in in front of the thumb since it is in the way of their normal position.  This means that they stick out too far,  sometimes have spaces, and are in danger of being broken due to a fall or sports mishap.

Today’s comments challenge:

Post your most creative name for a pacifier or a creative way that you talked your child out of the habit?

I will start: Binkie, Paci, Plug 🙂

Today at Woodall Orthodontics, the siding around the new windows was added.  Tomorrow they will finish that up and I will post some pictures.  Every day I see progress, I get a little more anxious to get started!!  Also, the network, speakers, and alarm wiring is complete!!  Soon the sheetrock goes up!!

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Here are the after pictures of the quadruplets and their cake!

One before picture to set the stage!

And During!!

Love Some Cake!

I think I heard him say: “Mom, I am gonna put some in my ear for later, okay?”

Overall picture of the cake destruction!

Aren’t these just the cutest kids? So glad we went to Huntsville to celebrate with our friends and their four precious one year olds!

I will get back to the building blog tomorrow!!!

So today’s question is:     What is your favorite birthday memory?